


Most Wanted

by Spoon888



Series: Mission And Companion Pieces [17]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, M/M, Mission Is Starting To Turn Into A 'Responsible Adult' And He Hates It, Sibling Rivalry, Teenagers, sibling relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:40:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23427871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spoon888/pseuds/Spoon888
Summary: There's more to life than how high up the Galaxy's Top Ten Most Wanted List you are -but not if you've just been overtaken by a younger sibling.
Relationships: implied Megatron/Starscream
Series: Mission And Companion Pieces [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/638945
Comments: 47
Kudos: 178





	Most Wanted

The Galaxy's Most Wanted List was how the Autobots got out of having to personally hire bounty hunters to do their dirty work for them. The rewards? Substantial. The methods? Unquestioned. There was never any condition for being dead or alive, and only the most nefarious, bloodthirsty, barbaric Decepticons made the top half of the list.

Megatron had been number one since long before Mission had even been sparked. For obvious reasons.

But perhaps one day, when sire was old and doddery, when his joints were stiff and his processor slow and forgetful, Mission could snatch that top spot for himself. That would mean beating Starscream to the punch though, and he'd have to do some pretty spectacular warmongering to overtake the most hated seeker in the galaxy to do that. _And_ convince Megatron to stop coddling him and finally promote him to upper command.

There were other contenders in the top ten to worry about too, but only one other member of high command- Soundwave wasn't much of a threat to his ambitions for the number one spot, bouncing about in the latter half of the top ten. He deserved to be higher, but he was subtle and clever, and most of the trouble he caused the Autobots was never officially pinned on him. Mission would have liked to be more like him, mysterious and underestimated, but the attention, the _reputation_ , was just too much fun to build.

Mission's frequent escapees with his parents as a young mech had placed him securely at number seven on the list, a pretty high spot with a pretty hefty bounty. He ignored Skywarp's teasing that the reward for him was only so high because he was Megatron's son, and wasn't so much considered dangerous to Autobots as he was assumed emotionally valuable to his parents- and he had his misguided adventures as a youngling to thank for how well known he was among the Autobots ranks.

And considering who else occupied the top ten it was a decent spot. It would take time and hard work to climb higher and he couldn't expect to beat out the likes of Shockwave and Tarn and Overlord without a fair bit of effort. He was young. His time would come.

The Most Wanted List was updated and redistributed across open communication signals every second stellar cycle and crammed with over three hundred designations of war criminals, pirates, scumbags and, mostly, Decepticons. It was a fun read in the morning over a cube of energon, scanning to see who had moved up, who had gone down, who was hot, and who was losing their touch. Every so often someone would jump up or down the list and earn themselves a pat on the back or a commiserating shoulder clasp.

He downloaded a copy onto his data-pad on his way to the mess, too lost in his own thoughts to notice how unusually quiet his walk across the ship was.

He sat at his usual table, across from Thrax, who was shovelling rust sticks from under the table into his mouth, keeping a keen optic on the door in case Starscream arrived early and confiscated them.

"Hey," he said, mouth too full of sweets to smile properly.

Mission grunted, setting down his cube and flicking the data-pad on. "Where is sire?"

"Bridge," Thrax stuffed another rust stick into his mouth, struggled to chew, and then mumbled, "Mmhph-ummph."

"What?" Mission began scrolling through the list to reach the top, where Megatron's designation predictably sat.

Thrax swallowed, "He's with 'Vic."

"What'd she do now?"

Thrax reached across the table and jabbed the back of the data-pad with a sticky finger. "See for yourself?"

Mission blinked, a horrible feeling settling in the pits of his tanks. Invicta had been off on an unsupervised mission without Megatron or Starscream yesterday, leading a smash-and-grab with the Stunticon unit at some derelict Autobot outpost. He hadn't heard details, but word was it had been a disaster. She had come back blackened with soot from head to foot, with a gaggle traumatised Stunticons traipsing after her, some of the carrying their of dismembered limbs.

Slowly, Mission looked down at the list, nudging it up a little, past his parents' names, to-

He dropped the data-pad like the light from the screen had stung his optics, standing in a rush.

"Twenty million credits," Thrax was shaking his head, "Where are the Autobots even _getting_ this money?"

Mission snatched the data-pad back up again, incredulous. Invicta sat, audaciously, at number _three_. Beating out every other scumbag in the galaxy with the expection of their parents, the First and Second in command, pushing _him_ even further down the list to number _eight_!? With his measly hundred thousand credit bounty.

"Is this a joke?!"

Thrax paused, a rust stick half way to his mouth, "...Um?"

Mission snapped the data-pad in half. "This is unacceptable." He raged, throwing down the pieces. "Who does she think she is?! Who do the _Autobots_ think she is?! _I'm_ the eldest!! _I'm_ the most dangerous-"

"Hey, am I any higher?" Thrax asked eagerly, reaching into his subspace for his own data-pad.

"The only reason you're in there at all is because they don't know how fragging useless you are," Mission growled. "I'm going to the bridge."

"They're having a meeting-"

"About Invicta, I know!" Mission yelled, stalking out of the room.

* * *

Mission's rage paled in comparison to other parties present when he reached the bridge. Megatron was stalking the command deck like a caged turbo-tiger, shoulders up to his audials and his fists tight and shaking. Mission swallowed his prepared rant and assumed a much calmer demeanour, abandoning his plan to demand his sire send him on the most dangerous, suicidal, Autobot-killing mission available.

A much calmer Starscream was sat in Megatron's captain's seat, his arms folded and chin down, like he was deep in thought.

Unbothered by both her parents' displeasure, Invicta was stood of to the side, her arms also folded. Her hip was cocked dismissively and she wore a bored look on her face. Mission scowled. She didn't even care.

"This is unacceptable," Megatron's voice sounded hoarser than usual, like he had spent most of the morning shouting before Mission had gotten there. "She's barely a youngling-"

"I'm fourteen vorns, sire," Invicta called, sounding vexed.

"-practically a sparkling!" Megatron continued, throwing a hand out at Starscream. "How could you have let this happen?!"

Starscream slumped down the seat a little, "How was I supposed to know she was going to blow up the mine?!"

"She's your daughter!" Megatron bellowed.

"She's _your_ daughter!" Starscream shouted back.

Invicta shot Mission a helpless look across the bridge. Mission found it hard to resist feeling sorry for her.

"You're not to leave this ship, _ever_ ," Megatron whipped around and turned on her, jabbing a finger in her direction. "Not with this hanging over your helm-"

"You and Starscream have larger bounties," Mission stepped forward to point out.

"Your sire and I are grown mechs capable of defending ourselves, your sister is not." Starscream rose out of the captain's seat. "I'm surprised the Autobots would sink so slow and target a helpless youngling."

Mission could barely hold back a bark of laughter, glancing at his 'little' sister, armed to her illegally modified teeth with experimental weaponry she'd conned out of Shockwave's lab and decked out in battle grade armour so thick he could barely tell she was a seeker at all. "'Helpless?!"

"Can I _go_ now?" Invicta asked with typical teenage attitude.

"No!" Megatron barked.

"Yes," Starscream ignored him and waved her away. "Go with your brother. Mission, keep an optic on her. Make sure she doesn't add any more credits to that bounty."

Invicta made a noise of disgust, and it was obvious that she had reached that age where any adult, including her older brother, was a drag to be around. Mission failed to summon any genuine sympathy.

He waited until she was in front of him to give her a rough shove through the doorway. She stiffened like she was going to whip around and throat punch him, but their parents' optics were still on them, so she would have to wait.

"You're jealous," she stated when they were out in the corridor.

"Of what? How you're never going to see the outside of this ship again? Sire will never get over this."

"He doesn't need to," Invicta flicked her larger grey wings flippantly. "Starscream won't let him lock up one of his best assets."

"You're not an asset, your their daughter," Mission corrected her, cringing at how ... _adult_ he sounded. But honestly, was he ever this exhausting and melodramatic as a teenager? He hoped not. "And I know you blew up that energon mine on purpose. You knew this would happen."

"I didn't think it would be this successful," Invicta admitted. "But then I didn't calculate how the Autobots would react to me. I look like Megatron, I act like Megatron, one day, I will _be_ Megatron, and now the Autobots know it."

"You think _you're_ the next Megatron? Get in line," Mission knocked wings with her fondly, "I'm the eldest."

"That doesn't mean anything," Invicta smirked darkly. "If Starscream's taught us anything, it's that leadership can and _should_ be taken."

Mission slowed down. She walked a few steps ahead of him before realising he'd fallen back. She gave him a bemused look over her wing. "What?"

Mission arched a brow, "For someone hoping to one day be Megatron you sure act a lot like the next Starscream."

Invicta smiled cockily, "I can be both."

Primus, Mission thought, following her, maybe Megatron's spot at the top of the Most Wanted List wasn't so secure after all...


End file.
